"You have to remember that up until yesterday, I was focused on the election and that was it," Kucinich told reporters on Wednesday. "So now, I'm going to serve the rest of my term, but I have to, you know, think about what the options are."

A recent report in The Seattle Times concluded that Kucinich's options no longer include relocating to Washington state, because he "would have to resign his current seat if he were to move to Washington state to establish residency for a congressional run."

Consequently, the logic goes, Kucinich's promise to serve out the rest of his term would preclude his relocation.

The Seattle reporter got that information from Kucinich campaign spokesman Andy Juniewicz, but it's simply not true, according to Matthew McClellan, a spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted.

McClellan says that under Article I, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Contitution, "a congressman could move out of state and still serve the remainder of their term because the person only needs to be an inhabitant of that state when elected."

Here's the relevant portion of the Constitution: "No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen."

A spokesman for Washington's secretary of state says Kucinich would have until mid-May to relocate there and file papers to run in its primary election.

On Thursday, Kucinich told Fox News Channel that he's unlikely to immediately get involved in another election. But he didn't rule it out.

"I just came out of an election, the last thing I am thinking about is, Oh Gee, you know, getting into another race," Kucinich said on Your World With Neil Cavuto."I mean, I can promise you on election night after the returns came in and I found out that it didn't go my way, it wasn't that I thought I got to get into another election right away. That's very unlikely."

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.